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Thursday, October 26, 2006

I ask, you write

Okay, here's the idea. I ask you a question and you write a short story explaining it. Let me give you an example.

What happened when young Padmavathi was drawing water from the well to wash her clothes, early one Margazhi morning?

Annon's story

One morning when Padmavathi was drawing water from the well, she found Pettai Rowdy # 1 Govindarajulu inside the bucket! She dropped it at once and Govindarajulu went down and down and hit the bottom of the well with a Nung sound. His upper and lower teeth fused together and since then he has been fed intravenously. Pettai Rowdy # 2, Ragothaman Iyengar, who suggested this to Govindarajulu, now rules the roost.

After marrying Padmavathi, he is inviting all of you to a water drawing ceremony at the new well they dug in their house.

Jai Ragothaman Iyengar! Jai Padmavathi! Come one, Come all!

-

Here's a question for you.

What happened that made young Meenakshi change her mind about the parrot green saree she had originally chosen and go for a coppersulphate blue saree instead?No deadlines but please keep your stories short. You can leave your story in the comment box. Get scribbling.

19 comments:

Meenakshi had a pet parrot named Pavithra. But it was blue in colour! Nobody in her family knew how this bird came to be. It was the most well-known member in the Reddy household. Everyone in Lakshmi Nagar knew about this blue-feathered friend of the Reddy's. One Navaratri day, as young Meenu was dressing up to go for the Golu at Sudhamani's home, she debated: to go with the green saree with maroon peacocks emblazoned all over or to don the bright blue saree with dancing parrots? "Meenu, make up your mind, Meenu, make up your mind" - Pavithra chanted outside her bedroom window. Meenakshi shrugged and picked up the coppersulphate blue saree.

Meenakshi was cheesed off! Trust Sundaresan's family to select a colour that would clash with her complexion...I can't face the guests in this parrot green saree... especially as my own parrot would not even be seen. I will not get married without my mascot, she muttered. She dialled Sundaresan's number on her mobile.Who selected this saree? she demanded. It clashes horribly with my complexion.'Well, said, Sundaresan. Don't jump the gun. My sister Jyothika selected it....Simply turn the saree around....and wear the copper sulphate colour on the other side..And your complexion.. and copper sulphate... they should go. If Aishwarya Rai can carry it off in Devdas....you can too.... You are after all the most beautiful woman!That's how Meenakshi ended up in cuso4 blue saree.... All's well that?...Ends well.

In the Saree shop, Meenakshi smiled as she thought of Douglas. How nice to be wooed by a good looking, thinking man, rather than the fat oafs who came and sat in her house, leered at her, asked her to sing and forbade her from working after marriage. It was wonderful meeting him in the Bharatnatyam class.

As she picked through the saree, she settled on a parrot green one. Then she said, maybe there is too much symbolism. A girl named Meenakshi, in a parrot green saree, she might as well buy a parrot to sit on her shoulder as well. To go with Douglas to his arangetram, maybe she should pick something that flatters him, rather than her. She smiled again as she thought of Douglas, and picked the copper sulphate blue saree.

Meenakshi wasn't happy at all. First the fight over which colour her sari should be - who in their right mind would wear a copper sulphate blue sari anyway? - and now Amma insisting that she attend the pre-marriage function. Sweaty ladies sitting around gossiping and whispering and eyeing her up as a 'prospective' for their sons. Chee, she didn't want to go, she thought as she labouriously anchored the jasmine strings in place.

"Meenakshi!""Coming, Amma!""The taxi's here! Come quickly! Aren't you ready yet?" She appeared at the door. "Good - you're ready. Come.""No, Amma. I've decided to change into the blue sari.""But..""It was your choice, Amma!""It's too late now!""I'll come with Appa later. You go. Don't you want me in your favourite blue sari so that all the ladies will see me?""Yes, but..""Go, Amma!"

Haha, Meenakshi thought. Then she saw the hideous sari on the bed, winced, and contemplated with resignation the sacrifices she had to make for a little bit of sanity.

Meenkashi glanced to see the love of her life next to her in the bed that they have shared for over 30 years now! She smiled and remembered the first time she tried to woo this man to marry her. She was getting ready for a party and had chosen her favourite parrot green pattu sari but then she remembered he was going to be there. He had told her once about his dream where he is dazzled by this unknown beauty in a copper sulphate blue sari- and there goes it....she had to change into a blue sari, which she did almost instantaneously. Now with him fast asleep all she could think was "oh, the beautiful parrot green pattu sari!!!"

"The research shows that the average Indian housewife always looks at her neighbour's/friend's saree in envy and the research also shows that the average Indian lady loves the colour blue and the great carnatic singer M S Subbulakshmi...So we have come up with this brilliant concept of connecting MS Subbulakshmi, blue colour, envy..." என்று பீஸாவையும் பீரையும் மகா மடையன் க்ளையண்டிற்கு திணித்து பியுஷின் பழைய பஞ்சாங்க கான்செப்டை தனதாக ப்ரெசென்ட் செய்தான் பால்கி.

At two twenty seven one afternoon, Meenakshi picked up a parrot green saree from an unruly pile. She unfolded it and spread its cool surface on the ironing board. Then she plugged the iron box into the socket and turned the settings to 'silk'. It was while waiting for the iron box to heat up that Meenakshi rolled up the sleeve of her blouse to inspect the bruise on her arm. Her skin had gone a dull brown from being pinched too hard. This was not the first time and Meenakshi was certain that there would be more. She winced as she recalled the time when a flying ladle hurled at her cut her skin just above the eybrow. At first, Meenakshi would cry at nights. But there was little she could do about it. It was not as if she could leave and go back to the village. Who would feed her kids?

Meenakshi was still running her fingers along the small bump on her arm when the light on the iron box went off indicating that it was ready. And at that very minute, a thought occured to her. She gathered the green saree in a bundle, set it aside and reached for the coppersulphate blue saree from the bottom of the pile. She smoothed the mistress' favourite saree across the ironing board and picked up the iron box. She slid the box onto the pale blue silken surface and left it there. The smell of singed silk brought a smile to her face.

Meenakhsi was bright. She knew if she would wear a Blue Saree, digital algorithms could very easily make her appear invisible in videos. So she would have cool wedding videos with only her head besides her boring orthodox tair chadam munching ponchy husband, from a loveless arrange marriage.

Meenakshi was very nervous. This was to be the big day. Her first job interview. And she had chosen a special parrot green sari for the occassion. She ran her hands lovingly over the sari. Then she got out the blouse that her uncle had sent from London. What was this ??? To her horror , Meenakshi found that the blouse had just that extra shade of blue. Would this day turn into a nightmare? No wait. Lets fallback to Plan B. The coppersulphate blue sari that her Dubai aunty had gifted her would be the perfect match. Thank God for aunties.